How Prosperous Is Your Pennsylvania ZIP Code? New Data Reveals Wealth Gap

Your address is becoming more of a factor on how well off you are — including the size of your paycheck and how much education you've obtained.

The widening gap in economic inequality between the top 1 percent of income-earners and everyone else was a hot-button issue in last year's presidential election, and the disparity appears to apply within smaller communities as well — a troubling trend as Americans are less able now than at any point in modern history to uproot their lives and relocate to greener pastures, according to the 2017 Distressed Communities Index by the Economic Innovation Group.

Axios published the report along with a nifty tool for breaking down prosperity right to individual ZIP codes. About 52 million people live in economically "distressed" ZIP codes.

In Pennsylvania, 26.7 percent of residents live in prosperous ZIP codes, and 13.5 percent live in economically distressed ZIP codes. Residents of prosperous zip codes enjoy incomes that are on average approaching 150 percent the statewide median, according to the study

"America’s elite zip codes are home to a spectacular degree of growth and prosperity— hubs of innovation and progress seemingly immune to the concerns over automation, globalization, or lack of upward mobility that pervade national headlines," the study said. "However, outside of those top communities, economic well-being is often tenuous at best. And, at worst, millions of Americans are stuck in places where what little economic stability exists is quickly eroding beneath their feet."

Among the factors that distress scores considered were the number of people at least 25 years old who don't have the equivalent of a high school diploma, the number of people living below the poverty line and how many jobs did the area gain from 2011 to 2015.

In the average distressed ZIP code, 6 percent of jobs were lost, and business establishments fell by 6.3 percent.

The study looked at the relationship between the well-being of a particular community and various important factors, including people’s health, public assistance spending, demographics and political representation.

There's a widening gap in the "economic and social experience" of the country's most distressed communities from the nation as a whole, the study found. Most distressed zip codes contain fewer jobs and places of business today than they did in 2000, the findings concluded.

Well-off areas saw 57 percent of the country's rise in businesses and 52 percent of employment growth.

“Economic inequality in America translates into opportunity gaps for too many communities,” Steve Glickman, cofounder and executive director of the Economic Innovation Group, said in a release. “Unless policymakers in both parties reframe their priorities, economically distressed communities will continue to experience a downward spiral that results in a loss of faith in the American dream and less healthy and fulfilling lives.”

To see how your ZIP code fared, check out the interactive maps below, or input your ZIP code by clicking here.

PHOTO: Flickr, Creative Commons, Bill Dickinson